speak of "Barbarelli," but always of "Zorzon de Castelfrancho," "Zorzi
da Castelfranco," and the like,[5]

We may take it as certain that Giorgione spent the whole of his short
life in Venice and the neighbourhood. Unlike Titian, whose busy career
was marked by constant journeyings and ever fresh incidents, the young
Castelfrancan passed a singularly calm and uneventful life. Untroubled,
apparently, by the storm and stress of the political world about him, he
devoted himself with a whole-hearted simplicity to the advancement of
his art. Like Leonardo, he early won fame for his skill in music, and
Vasari tells us the gifted young lute-player was a welcome guest in
distinguished circles. Although of humble origin, he must have possessed
a singular charm of manner, and a comeliness of person calculated to
find favour, particularly with the fair sex. He early found a
quasi-royal friend and patroness in Caterina Cornaro, ex-Queen of
Cyprus, whose portrait he painted, and whose recommendation, as I
believe, secured for him important commissions in the like field. But we
may leave Giorgione's art for fuller discussion in the following
chapters, and only note here two outside events which were not without
importance in the young artist's career.

The one was the visit paid by Leonardo to Venice in the year 1500.
Vasari tells us "Giorgione had seen certain works from the hand of
Leonardo, which were painted with extraordinary softness, and thrown
into powerful relief, as is said, by extreme darkness of the shadows, a
manner which pleased him so much that he ever after continued to imitate
it, and in oil painting approached very closely to the excellence of his
model."[6] This statement has been combated by Morelli, but although
historical evidence is wanting that the two men ever actually met, there
is nothing improbable in Vasari's account. Leonardo certainly came to